


Here Comes The Bride

by DollyPop



Category: Soul Eater
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Halloween, Halloween Costumes, Humor, Kissing, Nerdiness, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-31
Updated: 2016-10-31
Packaged: 2018-08-28 06:12:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,350
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8434714
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DollyPop/pseuds/DollyPop
Summary: If someone asked him what his idea of a perfect evening would be, it would consist of spending Halloween with one Marie Mjolnir, the two of them dressed in accidental couple costumes as Frankenstein’s Monster and The Bride of Frankenstein, talking about serial killers. He was just about certain that he was in love.





	

_“Here comes the bride! She came waltzin’ down the aisle in a dress so torn and vile._  
The man of her dreams was a nightmare, too, and she gave a shriek and a ghastly smile.”  
~Elvira

* * *

Every year, he swore to himself that he would never attend one of Spirit’s ridiculous Halloween bashes. Every damn year. And every year, he ended up in the same place he always did: in the center of it all.

Spirit Albarn, frat boy extraordinaire, would never pass up an opportunity to get himself a keg and surround himself with woman in various stages of undress and/or cosplay, so, of course, Halloween was always his holiday of choice to host a party. Especially considering that his mother and father always went out for some reason or another, leaving the massive, three story house that Spirit once lived in, now currently in a dorm, open and empty for use as a collegiate hang out.

And, of course, he invited his college roommate. Partially out of the goodness of his heart, Stein’s sure. Partially to keep the peace so that Stein didn’t try to murder him in his sleep, because, truly, he _would_ be that petty. Partially to ensure that Stein was accounted for on Halloween and not out digging up corpses from the nearby cemeteries to attempt to bring back from the dead and be the cause of the inevitable zombie apocalypse with him as the ringleader.

But, truthfully, the biggest reason was so that, when Spirit was going to talk to a girl, Stein could be beside him, and said woman would look at both and determine, simply by means of comparison, that Spirit was a fine choice in a hookup for the night.

Because who wouldn’t look better when standing beside a six foot ten college nerd with silver hair and a deadpan that indicated that he was, in fact, not interested, not having fun, and not intending to get another drink?

Stein sighed, folding his arms over his chest and almost sloshing his cup of awful beer. He’d found himself on one of the numerous comfortable couches, attempting to avoid everyone, and reading one of his Anatomy and Physiology textbooks after Spirit brought over some random woman to introduce him and she’d immediately turned to Spirit and told him she wouldn’t mind checking out the upstairs.

Which was, of course, the bedroom.

Demoted to unwilling wingman duty. Splendid.

The music blared from the speakers some of Spirit’s friends managed to haul in and Stein was certain that he was going to have some type of hearing problem thus. Human beings died from anything over 200 decibels, and he was relatively certain it was getting up there. At the very least, he was alone.

Which, naturally, didn’t last long. After about ten minutes since Spirit left, he’d returned.

Much to Stein’s immediate displeasure. 

“ISN’T THIS GREAT!?” Spirit yelled in his ear, plopping down beside him on the couch. His Fabio costume, complete with open shirt and his red hair long and flowing (assisted by two and a half packs of hair extensions, might Stein add), was now complete with several lipstick marks. Stein grimaced, taking a sip of cheap, dishwater beer from his red Solo cup. “WHOEVER INVENTED SKIMPY HALLOWEEN COSTUMES IS A GOD!”

“Mmm,” Stein hummed, but not necessarily in agreement. He understood the aesthetically pleasing aspects of such costumes, particularly on a female identifying or presenting form, but Stein wasn’t much for lust. The last time he got laid was…never. A fact Spirit consistently tried to remedy and joked about. Nineteen years old in his third year of college after skipping a few grades and still a virgin. A fate worse than death for one Spirit Albarn. Less so for Frank Stein. No one was interested in him, it would seem. Which was fine by him, for the most part. 

“Come on, man! You gotta admit, even COMMITTEE looks good tonight!”

Stein shuddered at Spirit’s general lechery when he looked over at Azusa Yumi, making out with her girlfriend in the corner, one Mira Nygus, dressed up as a nurse. Azusa, in turn, was wearing a matching Doctor’s outfit.

“She looks the same as always,” Stein said.

“Yeah, but she always looks so much hotter when she’s making out with Mira…damn…”

“You need to be euthanized.”

“Awww, come on, Stein! Don’t be so down! Even Frankenstein has a bride!” Spirit laughed, looking over Stein’s last minute costume. Truthfully, it was mostly Sid’s idea, who told Stein he’d be dressed up a zombie. Since Stein never really took part in Halloween, but a costume was required to enter the party, and Stein was required to go to said party, Sid had simply given him some of his leftover face paint. The rest was simple. He had more than a few torn shirts, and the scarwork was naturally in place for him. All that was left was crafting a quick neckpiece with some random screws attached and boom. Homemade Franken Stein by Frank Stein in little over half an hour.

Stein grumbled from beside Spirit, almost missing when his friend (and he _does_ use that term loosely) peered over to the doorway and made an excited noise. “And it would appear she has arrived!”

Stein furrowed his brows before he looked over and spotted Marie Mjolnir, actual woman of his dreams, walking over to the couch he was sitting on and sipping terrible beer wearing a matching couple’s costume with him. He almost panicked, looking around and finding Sid in the crowd.

Dressed as Han Solo.

Fuck, he’d been set up. He almost scrambled out of his seat to hide in the bathroom when Spirit threw his arms open and stood up.

“Marie! As I live and breathe! At my humble party?”

“The whole _school_ is in your house right now, Spirit,” Marie giggled, ducking underneath Spirit’s open arms to look at Stein instead. “Hi,” she said, almost shyly. “Looks like we’re a match, huh?”

“I- this was purely unintentional- the chances-“

“It’s okay! It’s nice to be in a couple’s costume. Even if not on purpose,” she told him, grinning.

Stein swallowed, but his mouth felt impossibly dry.

“Yeah,” he responded, eloquently.

For all his intelligence, ‘yeah’. He grimaced as Spirit turned around and gave him an encouraging look before he ran off to find someone else, likely Blair, who he could suck face with.

But the idea of sucking face and seeing Marie in front of him made warmth crawl up his neck. He certainly wasn’t one for lust, but it wasn’t lust with Marie. Not completely, at least. She was a beautiful woman without doubt, curvaceous as a racetrack with a gorgeous golden gaze. But beyond that, she was brilliant and kind and, seemingly, the only woman in the world more interested in him than Spirit.

Or…interested in him in general. Genuinely.

They’d met in an Abnormal Psychology class he took for fun, met with copious amounts of ableism from both the instructor and his classmates. He’d thought that, perhaps in college, he’d be spared the teasing and bullying that he’d undergone in high school for his plethora of odd habits stemming from his mental illness. . .es. Cue Marie Mjolnir, physically punching one Melissa Gorgon, nicknamed Medusa, right in the face after she made a comment toward him bordering on ‘You know, I like crazy guys best. They’re so easy to manipulate.’

He still shuddered about it.

Regardless, Marie’d nearly gotten expelled and fought tooth and nail about it, bringing even the instructor under fire in how passionate she was about neurodivergent individuals being treated fairly, and them having the right to be free of microaggressions in general, but _especially_ in an Abnormal Psychology course.

He’d not been able to stop thinking of her after that.

It never really went beyond the two of them being casual friends, despite the fact that he certainly knew she was interested in being more than that. He was just…he wasn’t good for her. He was too _strange_. He’d go to her for help in literature classes or various electives and sometimes even math, since she had a hell of a way with both words and numbers, and she’d, in turn, bring cookies and giggle around him and make him feel normal.

He’d developed cardiac arrhythmia. Only around her. But still.

And now, here she was, standing before him at a solid four foot five (though the beehive she’d managed to wrestle her beautiful blonde hair into gave her a few extra inches), decked out in a Bride of Frankenstein costume as though the universe was trying to tell him something. He looked her over slowly, taking in the ripped top of her wedding dress, cut to enhance the swell of her bust, and the dress was mostly a sheer overlay atop of a particularly short slip made of solid white fabric beneath the gauzy material.

“Do you mind if I sit here?” she asked, her full lips furling up as she noticed him checking her out. His eyes immediately snapped up to her face.

“Yes- I mean- no- I mean- I don’t mind-“

She giggled again, only sitting herself down beside him, so close that her leg was touching his leg and- breathe, Stein, breathe. Start up small talk.

“Your…uh, your costume is aesthetically appealing.”

“Is the costume appealing, or just me?” she teased, and Stein found that he was having a hard time breathing.

“It’s- both- I mean- you know, were you a brunette, you’d be Ted Bundy’s type,” he informed her, and almost immediately cringed.

Yes. Yep. That was definitely how to go about things. Inform a woman that she would be appealing to a serial killer.  Splendid. Marie, however, only chortled.

“As flattering as that is, Ted Bundy’s so boring. I’d rather be Paul John Knowles’ type. Casanova Killer.”

“You…what?” he asked, dumbfounded. She didn’t just say what he thought she said.

“Paul John Knowles’? Serial killer? Killed 19 people?”

“No I- I know but- you’re not- weirded out?”

“What? By serial killer convo? No! I live for this kind of stuff! Especially on Halloween!” she informed him, almost grinning as she bounced so she could look at him more fully. Her Bride of Frankenstein costume, already strategically made so that the majority of the skirt was nothing more than see through gauze, hiked up so he could see her thighs. “Which one is your favorite?” she asked, tilting her head.

Was it suddenly warm, or was that just him? He was being slammed full force with the fact that Marie was equally as weird as _he_ was.

“Vera…Vera Renczi. I didn’t know you…uh…” he babbled, somewhat baffled.

And charmed. Certainly charmed.

“What?” Marie asked, amused.

“Would be fascinated by this,” he finished, looking at her and realizing they were particularly close. He could count every freckle on her face.

He wondered how many she had elsewhere and-

Bad Stein! Bad!

“Oh! Uh…I mean, if you find it weird-“ she backtracked, looking sheepish and appearing to be about to stand and hide, but he stopped her.

“No!” he said, immediately, grasping at her hand. “I enjoy conversations regarding serial killers as well.”

“Really?” she asked, smiling at him and looking down at their joined hands, batting her eyelashes and biting at her lower lip.

“Yes.”

“Is that why Vera Renczi is your favorite? Poisoned 38 people.”

“You know of her?” he asked, looking taken aback. It would seem that she was particularly well versed.

“Of course I- who do you take me for? An amateur?”

“What? In serial killer 101?”

“Must have missed that class,” she told him. Stein took another sip of his beer and realized that he had drunk the entire cup. Oh. Well, that explained why he was feeling so loose of tongue and confident.

“I could tutor you,” he offered.

She looked at him for a small moment, a light flush on her face as she sucked in a deep breath, clearly gathering her courage. “No offense, but I’d rather get a lesson in anatomy.”

He swore his heart was going to thump out of his chest. Was it April Fool’s instead of Halloween? He swore he was being Punk’d.

“Yes?”

“Yeah,” she confirmed, laughing slightly. “Is that weird? Oh, god, that was probably a terrible pick up line and-“

“No, no!” he assured, a creepy grin coming onto his face. “I’d- I’d like to tutor you in anatomy as well. Anesthetic optional-“

But she cut him off by letting go of their joined hands and grasping his face in her two soft palms and leaning in to kiss him. She tasted of Almond Joy and KitKats and-

God, his brain just shut down. He had forgotten everything as he leaned in to kiss her back, humming deep in his throat. Just as his hands fluttered to her hips, she pulled away, looking bright pink, even beneath her pale makeup.

“Oh, oh my god. I’m sorry. I- did you- I didn’t even _ask_ if you wanted me to kiss you and-“

“Marie,” he said, softly, surprised he was still speaking English.

All that had been holding him back for the longest time was that he thought he’d be too odd, too _weird_ for Marie. That she’d cringe at his fascination with death and experimentation, with making jewelry from teeth and selling taxidermies and various other novelties made from human remains on Etsy but she wasn’t.

Could someone even _be_ more perfect?

“Yeah?” she asked, swallowing hard, her makeup smeared all over her face. Hell, _his_ green face paint was now streaked across her face, the dark black and gray that he’d used on his mouth stitches now transfered onto her.

Somehow, it only made her all the more adorable.

“As fascinating as I find quite literally everything you say, stop talking.”

Stein tossed his red solo cup behind the couch as he grasped the back of her head and moved in for another kiss.

Happy Halloween, indeed.

**Author's Note:**

> This is it! The end of SteinMarie Week 2016!
> 
> The prompt for Day 7? Bride of FrankenStein
> 
> Have a Happy Halloween!!


End file.
